FEATURE ARTICLES

Prototypes of new designs of 11 items of hospital furniture and equipment, ranging from a “21st Century” commode to an “intelligent mattress” that changes colour on becoming “compromised by body fluids”,

In a paper presented at the Institute of Hospital Engineering Australia’s (IHEA) 59th Annual National Conference in Canberra last year, Klaas Visser, of KAV Consulting, examines effective ways to reduce CO2 emissions and water use in hospitals.

How an overheating television apparently started a fire and a sizeable subsequent explosion at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital last September, the ensuing evacuation, and the valuable lessons learned, were the subject of an informative recent seminar presentation by Mike Ralph, at the time the hospital’s estates and facilities director. Jonathan Baillie reports on the presentation, given at a joint IHEEM and NAHFO “Fire Safety within Healthcare Premises” seminar in London.

Jane Southworth, senior associate, environment group, and Michael Conroy Harris, senior legal manager, construction group, at international law firm Eversheds, consider the key steps NHS Trusts need to take to prepare to forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme, and question what drivers currently exist to encourage delivery of healthcare buildings that play their part in carbon reduction.

Cameron Shantz, a principal with one of Canada’s largest architectural firms, Parkin Architects, and project architect for a major reconfiguration and reorganisation of clinical and other spaces at the St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario, describes the rationale behind the project, and highlights the resulting benefits for patients, staff and visitors.

Ensuring that modern healthcare facilities are designed, constructed and maintained sustainably is now as important as specifying the right equipment to provide the very best in healthcare.

Concerns originally raised by Welsh Health Estates personnel over the risk of patients, and particularly the elderly and children, burning themselves on the body of mixer taps incorporating TMV3 thermostatic mixing valves (TMVs), have, suppliers claim, seen a concerted recent drive to improve such devices’ design.

IHEEM Council member Bill Millar, governance and compliance manager at the United Lincolsnhire Hospitals NHS Trust, has recently revised and refreshed the IHEEM awards documentation, which explains the criteria for entry to the various categories, describes how entries are judged, and details the awards on offer. Health Estate Journal reports.

Bob Heavisides, director of facilities, Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and senior research fellow, Medical Architecture Research Unit (MARU), at London South Bank University, considers, in a précis of a paper presented at last year’s Healthcare Estates conference, how a new master planning approach may bring significant benefits to the healthcare estate, arguing that, against today’s fastchanging backdrop, typical existing estates strategies may no longer be fully “fit-for-purpose”.

Louise Corfield, IHEEM business development manager, describes the launch of a new IHEEM approval scheme which should help members faced with a bewildering array of training course choices, in some topic areas, to identify those offering the optimal content.

Ian Greggor, project director at international property and construction consultancy Cyril Sweett, discusses how, with the advent of world-class commissioning (WCC), the primary care estate may be most efficiently, and effectively, managed in the future, and the complexities and challenges commissioners and providers may encounter along the way.

Good acoustic conditions in hospitals and other healthcare facilities are known not only to benefit patients by creating an environment that facilitates rest, sleeping, consultation and treatment, but also clinical and nursing staff.

Specialist in the design and construction of modular healthcare buildings MTX Contracts has recently completed, on time and on budget, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust’s impressive new four-storey orthopaedic and surgical facility at Stepping Hill Hospital.

A far-reaching strategy which aims to modernise an estate comprising around 150 properties spread over a 2,000 square mile radius over the next 5 to 6 years and, simultaneously, deliver 100% “safe, sound and supportive” single-patient care to people suffering from a wide range of mental health illnesses, won the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust the Best Estates Strategy Award at the 2008 Building Better Healthcare (BBH) Awards.

A “highly effective” three-way partnership between architects Anshen+Allen, the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Laing O’Rourke, has created a non-institutional and welcoming new cancer treatment and renal services centre in Newcastle upon Tyne which, despite the gruelling nature of some of the therapies set to be offered, has a character and feel early users describe as “more like a four-star hotel” than a conventional healthcare facility. Jonathan Baillie reports.

With the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 imposing onerous fire safety responsibilities on the owners, managers and operators of UK healthcare facilities, a recent joint IHEEM and NAHFO (National Association of Healthcare Fire Officers) seminar saw experts ranging from a prominent London estates and facilities director to the Department of Health’s fire policy lead offer in-depth guidance to senior estates and facilities personnel. Jonathan Baillie reports.

Radiotherapy equipment manufacturer Varian Medical Systems has been using linear guidance systems from specialist bearing producer the Schaeffler Group on its linear accelerator patient couches for over a decade without a single failure, with the ultra-precise patient positioning the systems guarantee contributing towards enabling highly accurate targeting of tumours, allowing cancer treatments that previously took 20 minutes to be undertaken in as little as two minutes today. Jonathan Baillie reports.

Rubbermaid Commercial Products describes how Initial Hospital Services’ implementation of a revised cleaning regime at Croydon’s Mayday University Hospital using its recently developed, chlorine-resistant Microfibre Cleaning system has reduced cross-contamination risks, improved safety, reduced worker tiredness, enhanced efficiency, and cut the amount of water and chemicals used.

Hospital parking With the British public far more likely than they were 10 to 15 years ago to use a car even for a short journey, it seems inevitable that it will gradually become more and more difficult to find a hospital car park space. Jonathan Baillie discusses the key issues for health estate, facilities and transport managers dealing with car parking and traffic management on often congested, and increasingly

Energy saving The installation of what is believed to be the largest array of solar thermal panels currently in use at a UK NHS hospital has taken place at an ideal time for the facility in question, Harlow’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, with the hospital’s gas bill alone having risen by 153% over the past nine months thanks to soaring energy prices, and the estates department keen to mitigate the effects in any way possible. Jonathan Baillie reports.